Saturday, January 31, 2015

Ah - it's the weekend - yay!! After a long week at work, it was nice to get ready for the day at a leisurely pace. Then I ran some errands, had lunch with my friend Jayne (a talented card-maker who I met through the Hero Arts Flickr Group), and finished another Christmas card! Although we had gloomy skies, we've seen no snow so far today - perfect! Jayne and I had a stress-free drive to Anchor Paper, a fun paper warehouse that also sells craft supplies. We ate lunch at the Good Earth restaurant - love their cinnamon spice tea!

I blogged earlier this week about Merry Monday's caroler theme. I had done two cards but only got a good photo of one of them. Here's the second card:

This one uses a Silhouette file by Hero Arts called Carolers Silhouette - just love this quartet that includes a doggie! Couldn't find the black patterned paper I wanted to use so I cut the image on white. Then I cut another one on this red patterned paper from Graphic 45 (Twas the Night Before Christmas collection 8x8). Didn't like either of them alone so I layered the red over the white - liked it enough to finish the card with it. The snowflake paper behind the carolers is from My Mind's Eye (Merry Little Christmas 6x6).

Then I finished a card I started for last week's Merry Monday challenge to use a house on your card. I cut a Silhouette file by Jennifer Wambach called Merry Christmas House Card. Used some Distress Markers to color bits of it and do some faux stitching. I stamped the house roofs with Hero Arts' Envelope LinerBackground stamp.

So I'm up to 18 Christmas cards for my stash - so exciting! Hope you're having a crafty weekend and thanks for stopping!!

Thursday, January 29, 2015

Hey everyone - hope you're warmer than we are here at 22F! Well, it's perfect weather for thinking about Christmas cards as I'm doing each week since finding Merry Monday, a Christmas challenge blog. This week the merry designers challenged us to make a card featuring carolers - see it here.

I grew up in a musical family and spent many holiday seasons singing with groups of carolers through my church and my friends' churches. Then I joined Sweet Adelines and my choruses would make the holidays bright with Christmas shows and, yes, caroling adventures! On one such trip when I lived in Eau Claire WI, we visited a locked psychiatric ward in a local hospital. One of the patients used to be a choral conductor and she started directing us!! Our chorus director stepped aside and let the patient do her thing - such a thrill for everyone and very heartwarming to see her respond to the music!

I made this card today using a fun singing dog image from Inky AnticsPunny Christmas Pups clear set:

I stamped one dog, masked him off and stamped the other two to make a doggie trio. I colored them with Copic markers, trimmed them out and mounted with foam tape onto a Hero Arts Christmas tag (covered up the hole of the tag with a doggie paw). Hero Arts makes these yummy folded cards too - this one is grenadine from the Blush set. I stamped and white embossed the Inky Antics sentiment from the same set. Then I stamped it with Hero's Envelope Liner Background, inked with Tim Holtz Festive Berries Distress Ink. The paper is from Basic Grey's Evergreen 6x6 paper pad - it's a diagonal paper but I cut it down to a straight stripe. Sequins come from Lawn Fawn.

I have another card but didn't get a good photo today. You'll probably see me back later in the week if I succeed in getting one. Hope you're having a crafty week and thanks for stopping!!

Saturday, January 24, 2015

Yay - it's the weekend! I couldn't resist playing again in this week's Merry Monday Challenge to incorporate a house on your Christmas card. I chose to use an older Hero Arts/Basic Grey set called Happy Holidays for both of these cards:

I just love the cross stitched sentiments and sweet houses in this set, don't you? I started by white embossing the sentiment, then overstamped with the Tiny Ink Spots background from Hero Arts using Picket Fence Distress Paint from Tim Holtz. I didn't like the dots around the letters so I took a bit of alcohol on a cotton ball and wiped it off in a swirling motion, leaving a bit of white. Then I masked off the sentiment and restamped a bit off the first stamping to get a blurry snowstorm effect. I cut a stitched hillside with a die from Lawn Fawn, stamped and cut out my houses, added some string - done.

This next one started as a CAS on a white card base. Ugh - random ink on my acrylic block blobbed on my white card! So I cut the panel down to a small rectangle and matted it; adhered with foam tape to a red card base stamped with a cling background Notebook Paper from Hero Arts. Put a piece of Scotch washi tape behind the house image and some tiny gems on the flowers - done.

That was my morning, other than a quick trip to Target for a "few" things (which always ends up being more things!!). Then this afternoon, we had a Scramble on the Hero Arts Flickr Group. Leni hosted and offered us the theme of using an animal on our card. I was very excited with this theme as I've been trying to design a Valentine around this darling little dog from a Hero Arts clear set called Life is Not Perfect. Besides the fun sentiment for the doggie, another fave in this set is "It takes a long time to become young" - so great on a birthday card. Here's my Valentine and I hope my friend Heather's son Adam doesn't see this one - it's going to him next month!!

I used a speech bubble from a Hero Arts cling set called Psst! but it was a bit long so I cut it down and hand drew the left and right edges. The postage stamp heart is from a cling set called Untitled Hearts - love this one, especially for Valentines! The patterned papers came from My Mind's Eye 6x6 pad Happy Day, except for the red strip at the bottom - that's a bit of Basic Grey Evergreen - who says you can't use Christmas paper on a Valentine :)

Well, it's been a crafty day so far. I'd better head back to clean up the mess - Scrambling tends to make a big one! Thanks for stopping!

Monday, January 19, 2015

Yikes - I'm back for a second post today! Usually I'm the one who goes weeks without posting - oh well...

Anyway, I found my way to the Merry Monday Challenge Blog. Here they celebrate making Christmas cards every week - love that!! In earlier posts I've mentioned my plan to make at least 4 Christmas cards a month this year so I think the Merry Monday challenge will help with that goal. Here's the card I make for the current challenge to use a house on your card:

For my house, I used a stamp and cut set called Snowy Houses that Hero Arts made for Archiver's, back when the physical stores still existed. I colored it with Copic Markers, added some Stickles, Glossy Accents (on windows) and Liquid Applique (for the snow). The Stitched Hillside Borders are by Lawn Fawn - just love, love, love these. The gingerbread man is another HA/Archiver's stamp & cut - Cookies Set The falling snow was made with the Tiny Ink Spots background by Hero Arts, inked with Picket Fence Distress Paint for a bit of texture.

OK - that's probably the last time for a while that you'll see two posts from me in one day. Happy crafting and if you fancy getting on track with your Christmas cards, check out Merry Monday!!

Happy MLK Jr. Day! Like many in the US, I have today off for the holiday and found some time this morning to make a few more Christmas cards for 2015's stash. Woo Hoo - I'm now officially 2 months ahead of my planned schedule (4/month) by making three more cards.

First a duo using a fab design block stamp from Hero Arts called Winter Sparkle:

I just love all the fun words in this background stamp! I used a tree from an older clear set Tree-mendous to overstamp on the backgrounds. I also stamped the card on the left with a subtle Envelope Liner Background to give some texture. The card base on the right was stamped with Notebook Paper, a fun cling stamp also from Hero Arts. Papers are from Basic Grey's Evergreen line - love, love, love it!!

I'm building a collection of Lawn Fawn stamps and dies too. Just love so many of their winter and Christmas stamps and picked up a darling one this month - Winter Bunny, along with the matching die. Also used their Stitched Hillside Borders on this card - adore this set of 4 borders!! The tree and the sentiment are from Hero Arts - the Winter Fun comes from a build your own snowman clear set that I bought a few years ago. The tree is from a clear set called Happy Holidays.

Through a mention on a card in the Hero Arts Flickr group, I found a blog hosting weekly challenges for making Christmas cards: Merry Monday. What a great idea! I plan to visit them often to keep on track with my Christmas card goal. This week, the team challenges us to make a card with a house on it. So, you'll probably see me back later in the week with a house card. Until then, happy crafting and thanks for stopping!!

Saturday, January 17, 2015

Belated Happy New Year everyone! I'm not one to make New Year's resolutions but last year I made a plan with my friend Heather to make 2 Christmas cards per month so it wouldn't be such a time crunch in December. Well, I got behind right away but then I caught up and even exceeded my goal. Still, I ended up sending a few Hallmark cards in 2014. So this year, I decided to up my "quota" to 4 cards per month.

I'm happy to report that over the last week I have made 9, count 'em NINE, Christmas cards. So, I'm very proud of this start to my 2015 Christmas collection. Besides those cards, I also made 6 birthday cards, an anniversary card, and a sympathy card. Oh, and we had a Scramble over at the Hero Arts Flickr group and I made a card there too - see it here, if you're interested.

So here are my Christmas cards - sorry in advance for the long post! To make up the 9, I did some similar cards to a few of these. This first pair is an anniversary card and a Christmas card using the same Christmas set - Peace Joy Love - by Lawn Fawn. To be honest, these were the cards that kicked off my Christmas card project. I had this darling Lawn Fawn set that I'd never used and when I was looking to make an anniversary card for my aunt and uncle, I zeroed in on the Love image. How perfect for an anniversary with those two cute birds, I thought! Since I had the set out, I decided to do a Christmas card too (and made a second, slightly different version of it too - not photographed).

This next trio of cards uses papers from Basic Grey's Evergreen 6x6 pad - love, love, love this paper! One of the sheets has HOLLY and JOLLY all over it. The first thing I did was cut out some of the Js, Os, and Ys to make JOY. After I did that a couple of times, I decided to use the whole words Holly and Jolly on a card. The & was cut on my Silhouette. I made a second one of the card on the upper left - had a lot of fun with that one - the birdie papers are so colorful!

I was home sick on Wednesday and after sleeping most of the day away, I had enough energy to play with a new Tim Holtz Festive stencil. I used Distress markers on a piece of soft yellow patterned paper from Evergreen. I trimmed the panel and cut it in two pieces so I could make two cards. I stamped each one with a fun background by Hero Arts called Winter Sparkle.

Papers here were also from Evergreen and the background stamp used (and in the top two cards of the trio above) is called Notebook Paper from Hero Arts. Have used that stamp in many cards this month - love it! Hard to see in the photo, but I brushed Wink of Stella on the pine needles in my stenciled piece.

Finally, I made this doggy card this morning. I bought this fun Inky Antics clear set last year and meant to make a 2014 Christmas card for a dog-loving friend. Well, I didn't get it done for 2014 but now I'm ready for 2015! The background stamp on this one is another fave from Hero Arts - the Envelope Liner Background. Colored the doggy with Copics; the snowflake sequins are from Lawn Fawn.